Despite his previous fits and starts, the article on the home page (link below) gives one hope that Pat Chung may be back on the field soon. If he's in halfway decent shape, it's an immediate upgrade at a very weak safety position, and, perhaps even more importantly, maybe it gives Devin McTorchy some confidence to just cover somebody--anybody--without the fear of being beaten deep.

Chung ain't nothing special plus the fact he hasn't played in 2 month's doesn't exactly give me the warm and fuzzies anyway the real problem is DMC.Posted by tcal2-

Chung may not be special, but, if he's healthy, he has to be better than what we've currently got. If he upgrades the S position by 20% and, consequently, the CB position by 10%, our secondary will still suck, but it will suck less.

Chung isn't great in coverage, but he does know how to take a good route to the ball, is a hard hitter, reacts WAYYYYY faster, runs WAYYY faster, can therefore make interceptions, and is a SURE TACKLER

I'm more excited by signs of life from Devin McCourty. He forgot how to play his position.

I'm also very excited about Shaun Ellis. He's a good three-down defender.

And Jerod Mayo.

I'm not excited about Dane Fletcher. His two signature plays against the Dolphins were forgetting to turn to look for the ball when failing to run in coverage with a quarterback and missing a pocket passer on a key sack on a drive that let the opponent pull within 3 points

Chung isn't great in coverage, but he does know how to take a good route to the ball, is a hard hitter, reacts WAYYYYY faster, runs WAYYY faster, can therefore make interceptions, and is a SURE TACKLER I'm more excited by signs of life from Devin McCourty. He forgot how to play his position. I'm also very excited about Shaun Ellis. He's a good three-down defender. And Jerod Mayo. I'm not excited about Dane Fletcher. His two signature plays against the Dolphins were forgetting to turn to look for the ball when failing to run in coverage with a quarterback and missing a pocket passer on a key sack on a drive that let the opponent pull within 3 pointsPosted by Artist-Frmrly-Knwn-As-NickC1188

Yeah, I'm with you on Fletcher. The way he played towards the end of last year, I thought he was going to step up this year the way Ninkovich has.

Could be a case of the lingering injury/still not in game shape, but he's not the player he was in '10.

Chung isn't great in coverage, but he does know how to take a good route to the ball, is a hard hitter, reacts WAYYYYY faster, runs WAYYY faster, can therefore make interceptions, and is a SURE TACKLER I'm more excited by signs of life from Devin McCourty. He forgot how to play his position. I'm also very excited about Shaun Ellis. He's a good three-down defender. And Jerod Mayo. I'm not excited about Dane Fletcher. His two signature plays against the Dolphins were forgetting to turn to look for the ball when failing to run in coverage with a quarterback and missing a pocket passer on a key sack on a drive that let the opponent pull within 3 pointsPosted by Artist-Frmrly-Knwn-As-NickC1188

It's interesting to watch Fletcher kind of develop. He looks like he diagnosis plays pretty well at times and times a blitz (and pressures) perfectly and then other times he looks lost. As expected for a guy that never played linebacker he does get lost in coverage, but athletically he's got it and he's got decent linebacker size. I'm hopeful that he'll be a player in this defense for years to come - when you got a nut job (Spikes) pencilled in as a starter - you hope a guy like Fletcher works out, because you can't rely on Spikes.

I don't think that was Fletcher's responsibility on that PI. Looked to me like everyone bit on the run and he was the only one to realize it was a wildcat pass and ran out to cover Moore. Seems to me one of the secondary players should have picked him up. Nothing left to do but draw PI or give up a catch and run.

I don't think that was Fletcher's responsibility on that PI. Looked to me like everyone bit on the run and he was the only one to realize it was a wildcat pass and ran out to cover Moore. Seems to me one of the secondary players should have picked him up. Nothing left to do but draw PI or give up a catch and run.Posted by shenanigan

The problem i have was that the pass was so horribly underthrown that if fletcher had just turned his head he would have seen how bad the pass was and not just tackled the reciever/QB. While he may have been the only player not fooled on that side of the field (admirable) what he did next made him look clueless.

Just watched the Miami game again..had it recorded. FF through commercials , great way to see a game. The defense was actually pretty good. The secondary did have a few breakdowns that should not overshadow a decent performance. The offense had issues...Against a GB or a NO afraid 6 punts == 28 point deficit. The offense has to solve the begining of game issues.Posted by patsbandwagonsince76

i agree... they are far from perfect, just look at the yards, but they are pretty decent. the pass rush i believe is better than people think. i am more concerned about the LBs and how they prevent those underneath passes. i think they will play a more agressive type of zone,moving the seams from where the oposing qb expects it.

In Response to Re: Reason for optimism on D??? : i agree... they are far from perfect, just look at the yards, but they are pretty decent. the pass rush i believe is better than people think. i am more concerned about the LBs and how they prevent those underneath passes. i think they will play a more agressive type of zone,moving the seams from where the oposing qb expects it.Posted by seattlepat70

Getting to the QB came at the expense of the running defense suffering a bit.

Very good QB's will be able to do a lot against this defense if the Pats play it safe at all. They will need to inject a lot of randomness to the coverage and take chances to force some mistakes. So moving the seams is one way.

I think seattlepat70 described it well. The defense is pretty decent. Lots of yards but a lot fewer points; about the middle of the pack. The return of Spikes and Chung, should they both get healthy, will help a great deal against both the run and the pass.

The one concern we all should have is the last two times the Pats faced better NFL QBs (Manning and Roethlisberger) they lost. We've been playing guys like Moore, Tebow, Grossman, Orlovsky, Young, Palko, and Sanchez. These aren't big time NFL QBs. Fortunately, we won't have to face too many good QBs in the AFC playoffs and that makes me fairly confident we can win the AFC championship with this defense, especially if we're playing at home. The bigger challenge will come in the Super Bowl (assuming we get there) where we're likely to face a team like GB or NO--both of whom will really challenge our pass defense. Our defense will need to play above its head against an opponent like that--and our offense will need to hit on all cylinders to keep pace. I think with BB coaching the team, we've got a great chance, but against top opponents like GB and NO the lack of talent on our defense and the limited diversity of our offense could come back to bite us.

I don't think that was Fletcher's responsibility on that PI. Looked to me like everyone bit on the run and he was the only one to realize it was a wildcat pass and ran out to cover Moore. Seems to me one of the secondary players should have picked him up. Nothing left to do but draw PI or give up a catch and run.Posted by shenanigan

Chung doesn't excite me either. One thing we know is McCourty is going to get their best reciever. So why don't we try to give him help over the top. Brandon Marshall is a good ball player. it looked to me a couple times that DMC thought he had help or got the play wrong.

What worries me some is that we havnt played anyone really good the last games in the season. Brady better be sharp till we figure it out. Last night if we played the Saints it would have been a shoot out.

If you want to beat Green Bay or New Orleans, your defense needs turnovers or a great pass rush. Sadly, our pass rush is not dominating. That leaves forcing turnovers. On the plus side, we make turnovers happen. This will give us a chance in a game against either of the two likely NFC Superbowl reps. For example, if McC gets beat twice and makes an interception, he's done well. The goal is not to let these offenses score touchdowns every time they have the ball. Indeed, the much maligned PATs D is good at forcing FGs...I'd gladly give up a FG to our Superbowl opponent on every one of their possessions -- if we do, we WIN! This of course assumes our O plays lights out!!!